On Fri, 2021-07-09 at 11:01 -0400, SuStel wrote: On 7/9/2021 10:52 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:

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SuStel:

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It's because woman does not imply a relationship to anyone, so saying my woman is implying actual ownership. In contemporary English, that is.

This seems strange..

In Greek we never say "my wife" unless in a very formal setting. 99,999% of the time we say "my woman" to refer to the one we're married too. And no one considers this derrogatory; not even the most radical feminists.

My guess (and it's only a guess) is that *be'wI'*/my woman/ would be acceptable to Klingons in the same way it seems acceptable to you in Greek.

In Maori, "woman" and "wife" are the same word. But... Maori does have different types of possession. One type includes people you have responsibility/superiority over, and things you have control of. children, wife/husband, pets, man made objects - computer, knife, cup (but not things like clothing, drinking water, things used for transport) Another type of possession includes parents, siblings, friends, clothes, shelter, transport (So, if say, you own a horse; if the horse is a pet, it is in the first group; but if the horse is used for transport, it is in the second group.) If a woman is your wife, you would use a possession word covering the first group. If a woman is a friend or coworker, you would use a possession word covering the second group. (There are several possession words. First person, second person, third person; and each of those has singular, plural) - DloraH